Brutal Pollard consigns Kohli's RCB to defeat after Badree hat-trick
Kieron Pollard upstaged West Indies team-mate Samuel Badree and Virat Kohli as Mumbai Indians beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by four wickets after looking set for an embarrassing Indian Premier League defeat.
Badree was ruled out of the tournament last year due to injury and showed RCB what they were missing at M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday, taking a hat-trick to reduce Mumbai to 7-4 in reply to 142-5.
The West Indies spinner finished with remarkable figures of 4-9 from his four overs, but all-rounder Pollard proved to be the match-winner with a brutal 70 from only 47 balls with support from Krunal Pandya (37 not out off 30) to put Mumbai top.
India captain Kohli had earlier put on a show on his comeback from a shoulder injury sustained during the recent Test series win over Australia, blasting a brilliant 62 from only 47 balls.
One of his finest innings in MI colours! Well played, #Pollard #RCBvMI #CricketMeriJaan #Mi pic.twitter.com/HhEDw9um2A
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) April 14, 2017
Kohli made up for lost time following a spell on the sidelines, getting into the groove after a tight first couple of overs by setting about Tim Southee - who was launched for six down the ground and taken for another two boundaries by the skipper.
Chris Gayle's place in the side had been called into question and the powerful opener was slow to get going before hitting Harbhajan Singh over the ropes.
The West Indian fell three short of the 25 runs he needed to become the first batsman to reach 10,000 runs when he edged Hardik Pandya behind to end an opening stand of 63.
Kohli smashed Jasprit Bumrah for another six to bring up his half-century off 39 balls, but was caught by a juggling Jos Buttler off the excellent Mitchell McClenaghan (2-20) before AB de Villiers fell for 19.
The Mumbai bowlers put the squeeze on to restrict RCB to what appeared to be a below-par score, but the brilliant Badree put the Indians in the mire with a mesmerising third over.
Stuart Binny got rid of Buttler and RCB had taken four wickets in six balls after Badree saw the back of Parthiv Patel, before the promoted McClenaghan holed out. The leg-spinner duly completed his hat-trick by deceiving the struggling Rohit Sharma with a googly.
Badree struck for a fourth time to leave Mumbai 33-5, but the clean-hitting Pollard bludgeoned five sixes in an extraordinary knock and Krunal Pandya also made a key contribution for an Indians side that has won three in a row.